Opinion

Category archives for Opinion

Yesterday I spent a delightful several hours having lunch with Chris Mooney (of Seed, Scienceblogs, and war on science fame) and attending his talk in Durham, NC. I also got to meet fellow ScienceBloggers Abel Pharmboy and Coturnix. At lunch, the conversation centered on a favorite topic here at ScienceBlogs, Science Journalism. Chris made what…

Janet Stemwedel and Chad Orzel have each written excellent posts on the necessity of improving science journalism. Janet argues that what’s needed is to improve science education: If there were an actual clamor for science reporting that was detailed, informative, and grounded in fact — a clamor not just from scientists but from the people,…

The local newspaper here in Charlotte was aghast that SAT scores (a test used to help determine college admissions in the US) fell in North Carolina this year, even though the article goes on to point out that nationwide the scores dropped even more. So what’s up? Are schools letting the kids down? Is the…

Jonah Lehrer now has two posts slamming Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink. The second post, currently ScienceBlogs’ most emailed story, offers the ultimate slam, proclaiming that Gladwell is the “new Freud,” a mere “prose stylist” who “wasn’t particularly interested in the neurological foundations of his theories.” As I’ve said before, I agree with much of what Jonah…

Breastfeeding is the topic of the day here at Scienceblogs, inspired by a New York Times article on the subject. I want to make the case that breastfeeding isn’t always the best choice. As the Times article points out, research isn’t exactly on my side: Breastfeeding is associated with higher IQ, decreased risk of obesity,…

Courtney Martin makes an interesting argument about the phenomenon she calls The Paradox of the Perfect Girl. It’s the result of the recent upsurge of girls outperforming boys academically: The perfect girl is everywhere. She is your niece, your daughter, your friend’s genius kid. She is the girl who makes the valedictorian speech at your…

Every so often on Cognitive Daily, someone will post a comment asking for help on a paper they’re writing for school. It’s pretty clear where these people come from: they’ve done a Google search on video games or whatever it is that interests them, and our post is the first thing they’ve found that seems…